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The Boy Scout leader trained my sons well, requiring a backpack for all hikes that included water bottles, notepads and pens, compass, personal first aid kit and pocketknife. All three boys had their backpacks and Audrey had one ready for us girls.
"Here's your boots, Mom," Travis placed the hiking boots in front of me.
"Everyone ready to go?" I asked. "Phones charged?"
Hunter had the twins' cell phone they share and Audrey had hers. With five kids, including three of them old enough to be a bit independent, I needed a way to contact them if plans changed. For this reason, our family owned four pay-as-you-go phones for basic communications only. This kind of plan also taught just how much time and money was spent on their phone. If the kids want to talk to someone for hours, they can do it from home, or they pay for it themselves.
We headed out to the Purple People Eater, picked up our lunch at the Pit Stop, and drove the short distance to the Emerson Forest Preserve main entrance on the edge of town. The Interpretive Center and Ranger Station had been the starting point for the girls' original trail. Their plan was to walk their memories while the boys kept an eye on Harvey's map.
"Hey, Mom, let's get a map of the trails as a reference," suggested Skylar.
"Hello, Frank," I called out to the park ranger awaiting visitors inside. "We need a map of all the trails."
"Oh, good, the Bailey crew is here. I heard you are hunting hidden treasures today. Mind if I tag along? I would love to find some new treasures in the woods."
"Aw, who told you?" asked Travis.
"Your father mentioned it when I called in an order for our Rangers meeting next Tuesday." Frank leaned over the counter to whisper to Travis, "Sorry, was it supposed to be a secret?"
"No. Well, maybe?" Travis whispered back. "It all depends on what we find, I think."
"Yes, Mr. Winter, you can come along." said Hunter. "Maybe you will see some trail markers we don't. Do you know about Letter-Boxing, and where some might be? We only have half of a map, and the girls’ memories to go by."
"Yes, I know of five or six different letterboxes in the woods here. I don't have them marked on any maps because people enjoy the hunt by following the owner's instructions. Plus, from time to time they get moved by the owners. As long as the woods do not get tramped too much, it is a fine game for people to enjoy in the woods."
As Frank taped a sign to the door indicating he would be back in an hour, I quietly teased, "Did my husband put you up to this, maybe by offering a special on the food?"
"Not at all. Well, he did offer, but I turned it down." Frank explained. "Love my job with its many opportunities to get out of the office. And I, too, am curious if Harvey had his own box-hole here. I would often see him here. I just never thought to ask why. Now I might get the answer."
"Well, girls, which way do we go?" I asked the girls. "Lead the way."
Audrey and Emily led the way down Hump Back Trail. Along the way, Audrey saw a forked tree that looked familiar, a fallen tree, and the small waterfall. Hunter and Skylar marked our progress on the ranger's map and attempted to match it with the part of Harvey's map.
When we came to the large rock, Audrey paused. "I don't remember which way. We stopped here to look for a sign, but this is where I was dive-bombed by a bee, so I really wasn't paying attention."
My treasure hunters spread out, looking around in all directions. Both Hunter and Emily called out at the same time, but from different sides of the rock. Hunter found an X carved in the rock, while Emily found a star shape. While they were discussing which way to walk, Skylar found a half moon shape on another side.
"Now what do we do?" Travis asked.
Skylar laid the maps on the rock. "I see where we are on the trail map, and I think this rock is this large circle on Harvey's map. But Harvey didn't mark cardinal directions and these other bumps could be any hill on this trail."
"At least we are on both maps," Hunter replied.
Emily said, "I think we had lined up with the star and followed it out, but I don't remember how far."
Unanimously the kids decided we had one-third shot of finding it in either direction, so we might as well follow Emily's direction.
In single file, Emily, then Audrey, then the rest of us headed out from the star. After about fourteen paces, the girls came to a dirt patch.
Suddenly Audrey remembered, "It had been really wet and muddy that day, so I veered to the right, climbing over some fallen trees."
"I followed you, but the moss was slippery over one of the trees. I slipped and fell. You came back for me, and that is when you thought you had found something." Emily finished for her.
They went around to the right to climb over and then looked under all the fallen trees. Hunter and Skylar made a little wider walk doing the same thing. Frank and I waited on the trail with Travis watching the maps.
After the fifth tree, when they were almost around the mud pile and ready to get back in line, Hunter called out, "I see something. Over here. There is a hole in the crook of this tree, where these two branches meet."
Audrey joined him and agreed, "That is about the right height for the hole."
Ranger Winter cautioned, "Careful, boys, do not just reach inside the hole since it could be used by an animal now." He left the path, heading cautiously over the vegetation to help the boys.
Skylar found a stick and poked it in the hole. We heard a soft metal clank as it did.
Audrey reached in, as her leader did months ago, and pulled out a black metal toolbox, as Travis and I climbed over there to see. Inside we found a few knick-knacks and newspaper clippings, but the first clue that this belonged to Harvey was his initials "HH" etched inside the box lid.
Hunter dug into his pack to get out his phone to call Uncle Corbin, while Skylar dug into his to get out some latex gloves and the camera. Once I had Corbin on the phone and explained what we found, I handed the phone to Ranger Winter to give directions. Together they decided it was still best for Corbin to go to the main parking lot, since we were actually closer to where the end of the trail meets parking lot than from where we had started the trail.
"The Chief and I will be there in ten minutes." Corbin said. "Don't touch anything," he yelled as he hung up the phone.
Luckily for everyone involved, Corbin wasn't there to see all three boys just roll their eyes at him. They knew better than to touch it with their bare hands. They had already put on gloves to hold the loose objects as they moved them out, snapped a picture front and back and replaced it.
Frank just laughed as he watched the procedure. "Watch enough detective shows in school?"
"Just make sure you put everything back in the order you found it!" I cautioned. Ignoring their second eye roll that indicated they already knew that, I offered to go escort the police back here. The girls came with me, because if that really was an important crime scene, we didn't need to be trampling it up. Frank stayed to supervise the boys.
By the time we had walked back to the parking lot, we could see the flashing lights of Corbin's police cruiser coming up the drive. At least the siren wasn't blaring so as not to scare the fauna in the forest. They parked closer to where we exited, on the other end of the parking lot than the Purple People Eater.
No friendly greetings graced Chief Flint's lips. Just a gruff, "Lead the way, Mrs. Bailey."
Upon arriving back to the big rock in the middle of the trail, we could see the three boys lounging around off to the side, attempting to look innocent, drinking from water bottles. Chief Flint and Corbin headed straight into where Ranger Winter was standing guard over the box treasure.
The happy hiking mood was gone. My children sat quietly, straining to hear what the police were saying. There was a mumbled discussion as the Chief's eyes glanced at us often. I don't think he was too happy at the situation, but I couldn't decide if it was the box, or the fact that it was us Baileys who found it.
Ranger Winter demonstrated how we used a stick to feel for the box. The men must have heard something because suddenly Corbin was getting out his flashlight and peering down the hole. He stopped to put gloves on, then reached down inside the hole and pulled out small yellow scraps of paper with blue writing. Could Butterfingers individual size candy bars have been Harvey's favorite kind of candy bar?
Hurray, Hurray! Finally, the Chief found something I didn't. That feeling didn't last too long for me, though. The Chief frowned again, when Hunter offered a plastic bag to hold the wrappings, realizing we had come prepared for clues.
Deciding we had overstayed the chief's patience, I announced, "we are returning to the Interpretive center to have our lunch."
Chief Flint gruffly left Corbin bagging everything up and walked with us on the trail. "It is getting to be quite a habit to see you and your family every day, Mrs. Bailey. I would rather not, to be truthfully honest."
Not sure how to answer that, I said nothing.
"Can I just ask you one simple question, Mrs. Bailey." Chief Flint asked. I nodded my head to him. "Didn't I politely ask you to report anything you found from Harvey's house?"
"I believe, sir, you wanted to know if anything was missing from Harvey's room. The map was found in the common living room of the house. Paula believed it was some silly game that Harvey had set up." I explained, leaving Corbin's knowledge out of it. "There were no indications that the two things were related. We didn't even know if we could find it. The map is vague and ripped in half. Only the slim chance that Audrey had seen the treasure spot last year gave us the ability to follow the half map anyway."
Arriving at the parking lot, the Chief paused a moment to talk to the boys about what they had touched, while the girls and I headed for our lunch. Audrey opened the back door for the food in the cooler, while I went to the drivers’ door for the chips.
Note to self: never reach into things I can't see. Too bad I didn't make that note until it was too late. I reached over the seat, down towards the floor of the van and .... screamed.
Instead of grabbing the handles of the grocery bag holding the chips, I grabbed a wiggly, scaly, cold-blooded creature that immediately tried to wrap itself around my hand.
I screamed, letting go of that nasty creature and jerked back, and screamed again as I turned around and ran with tears in my eyes. I didn't care where I was going, as long as it was away from there.
Panic blinded, I tripped and sprawled face first on the road. As I scrambled to get up, I felt hands trying to grab me. I kicked back, connecting with something flesh and bones and heard an "oaf", but the arms just wrapped me up in a bear hug tighter.
"Mom. Mom, Calm down." Audrey and Emily ran in front of me calling, "Mom, Take a deep breath. You are okay, now. It is gone."
I hate snakes, truly despise snakes, to the point that I am desperately frightened of them. While on vacation at age five, I tripped over a snake hole in a field. Four baby rattlesnakes came out and slithered around me, and bit me. We had to rush to the hospital for anti-venom, less than a year after my mother's death, reaffirming my dislike of hospitals.
Snakes are the one creature I will not let my kids have as pets. We have had worm farms, rabbits, and insects. You name it, we have probably had it for at least a week. But they know how much I dislike snakes. Thanks to the town grapevine, the whole town knows I dislike snakes.
All the energy just drained out of me, my screams turned to sobs and I went limp. I was so happy to see my girls safe, standing there in front of me. Whomever was holding me, slowly lowered me to the ground and let go. I grabbed my girls and gave them a big hug.
Audrey whispered tightly, "Mom, you are choking me."
"You girls okay?" I gave a weak, shy laugh, still trying to catch my breath as I loosened my grip a bit.
"We are fine, Mom. We were in the back, remember?" said Audrey, as she slipped out of my grasp. "Now I am going to go to Uncle Corbin's car and get his first aid kit. Your skinned hands and knees are starting to bleed all over Emily."
I smiled and laughed a little again, letting Emily go, "I am so sorry, Emily." I looked at her worried face. "I didn't mean to scare you. I am so, so sorry."
"It's okay, Mom." Emily smiled sweetly.
Chief Flint, who must have been the one holding me, crouched down next to me.
"Would anyone care to tell me what the hell just happened?" asked the Chief.
"Mom!" Skylar, Hunter, Travis, Frank and Corbin all came running up the path at full speed. "Rainbow?"
"There is a ..." Emily, showing more wisdom than her years, stopped before saying the actual word. "S. N. A. K. E. in the van," she finished telling the boys.
Audrey called, "Mom grabbed it, thinking it was the grocery bag."
As a group, the guys trooped to look in the van.
"Stay away from it, boys!" I yelled.
"I take it you don't like snakes, Mrs. Bailey?" the Chief asked.
"Mom was bitten by rattlers when she was little and even ended up in the hospital." Audrey explained to the Chief, as she began to wash the dirt and blood off with a wet wipe.
After they had taken a quick glance inside, I heard what were supposed to be appreciative comments, I am sure.
"Whoa, Mom, you touched it?" Hunter called.
"That explains it," Travis said. "It's big."
"Girls, stay here with your mother," Chief Flint commanded, as he went to view the snake.
"It's harmless," called Frank.
Chief Flint asked, "Officer Cross, what are you doing here?"
"I heard the scream and thought you might need back-up."
"As you can see, Mrs. Bailey will be fine now. Get back to the evidence. Do you understand." Chief commanded.
"Yes, sir." Corbin glanced at me as he ran, back down the trail.
"Ouch!" I said. Audrey slapped dabbed antibiotic ointment the last band-aid to cover my knee.
"AlI cleaned up, Mom," said Audrey.
"Kids, stay back, out of the van. Mr. Winter, you said it is harmless." Chief Flint continued to take charge of the situation. "Does that species like to crawl into vehicles?"
"Well, it has been known to happen in winter, though rarely, if it senses some heat buildup and finds a hole to crawl in. But this is late spring, on a warm sunny day. Not much reason to need that extra heat." Ranger Winter explained.
"Thank you. Do you have a cage available for it? Please bring it out here so it is ready. Skylar?" Chief Flint pointed to one of my boys.
"I'm Hunter, sir," Hunter tried to correct him politely.
"Sorry, Hunter. Are you bothered by snakes?"
"No, sir."
"Good. Would you keep an eye on it and call me if it tries to move."
Chief looked at our lunch cooler that Audrey and Emily had dropped in their haste to get to me. The lid was ajar, showing the jug of lemonade we brought from home, running as a stream across the ground. Then he glanced at me with Audrey and Emily.
"It's Travis, right, son?" Chief pointed.
"Yes, sir, I'm Travis."
"Good. Do you know if there is a vending machine nearby?"
"The lower level of the Interpretive Center, on the outside deck, sir."
Chief reached into his pocket, "Here is some money. Go get your mother a soda. You know what she likes?"
"Yes, sir."
Crackle, crackle went chief's radio. He stepped away slightly to respond.
"Chief Flint?" Corbin's voice floated through the tiny speaker.
"Here, report," Chief responded.
"Uh, it is gone, sir," Corbin announced.
Chief barked back into his walkie- talkie, "What do you mean it is gone?"
"I am at the hole in the tree, but it is gone, sir. The black box is not here where we left it."
The Chief swore under his breath. "Stay right where you are. I'm coming back. And radio in for back-up."
Pointing to my other son he said. "Skylar?"
"Yes, sir." Skylar's back straightened to attention.
"Is it right to assume you have a camera in your backpack."
Skylar managed to look only slightly guilty when he replied, "Yes, sir, I do."
"Then I want you to take a few pictures of the snake. Do you boys know how to handle snakes?"
"Yes, sir. Mom doesn't know, but we move them out of the yard before Mom sees them." Skylar replied.
"Good. After the pictures, boys, if the snake decides to move to a new location, you have permission to put it in the cage," Chief directed.
"Will do, sir," The boys said together in that eerie way the twins had sometimes.
The Chief came over to Audrey and I. "Audrey, how bad are those cuts."
"Just basic abrasions like we clean-up on the boys all the time. Nothing serious. I have already cleaned them up."
He looked me over and asked me, "I would like to get you more comfortable before I check on Officer Cross. Will you throw up on me again, if I help you into the Interpretive Center?"
I saw Travis coming around the building with a soda and wryly smiled at his attempted joke, "No, I think I will be fine."
He insisted on helping me up and got me walking, blocking my view of the van on the way into the Center.
On the way he played twenty questions. "Was the van locked?"
Getting tired of all the questions and still shaken up, I responded, "Of course it wasn't. Contrary to the last few days, we don't have rampant crime in our town. And who in their right mind would try to steal the Purple People Eater anyway?"
"Mmmmm." He grunted his opinion of that. "Then tell me about this distraction."
"Distraction? Have you ever been bitten by a poisonous rattler? I almost died. I think my phobia counts more than a distraction." Just the thought of how that felt made my head start to spin a little. It was a good thing I had Audrey on one side and the Chief on the other.
"Mom, you are okay now," Audrey reassured me, holding on just a little tighter. She explained to the Chief, "Mom usually doesn't react this bad, but she hasn't touched a wild snake since that incident. Most of the time she just squeals a little at the sight and walks away."
Frank unlocked the door to the center, and his back office. Once I was settled into Frank's chair and Travis presented the soda, the chief disappeared quickly out the door dragging Frank with him, calling more instructions to the boys and into his walkie-talkie on his way out the door.
I drank half the can in one gulp. As I started to feel better, the whole scenario seemed to dawn to me. Everyone knows I am afraid of snakes. My family and friends all came running and now the black box full of Harvey's treasures was gone.
That meant two things. First, the map and the box of stuff either had something to do with the murder, or at least someone thought it did. Second, most likely that same someone planted the snake in the van, hoping for the distraction, or to make me look foolish again. Possibly both.
Well, the plan worked. Corbin left the scene and now the things are missing. And I truly went hysterical, again, in front of the Chief. Three horrendous events in less than forty-eight hours.
Always trying to find the bright side of things, I was just thankful it happened to me, and not my children.